India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki’s service network has crossed 4,000 touchpoints, covering 1,989 towns and cities. This is the widest service network offered by any carmaker, and forms 49.7% of the 8,000-odd touchpoints of all carmakers in India put together.
Partho Banerjee, executive director, Service, Maruti Suzuki India, said that the company added 208 new service workshops in FY21, despite tough conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “During the pandemic, we have gained in terms of service network share vis-à-vis competition by about 3%,” he said.
“During the pandemic, innovations such as the Quick Response Team and Service on Wheels, among others, helped us meet the servicing needs of customers,” he added.
Service on Wheels is a workshop on the move that offers customers the option of availing service at their doorstep. “It is equipped with all tools and technologies to undertake service, repairs and other related jobs for all Maruti Suzuki passenger vehicles. There are now more than 200 Service on Wheels workshops, spread across 124 towns and cities,” Banerjee said.
“Our ultimate aim is to ensure that a customer shouldn’t travel more than 10-15 km in urban areas, and not more than 25 km in rural areas, for car servicing needs.”
Quick Response Team is a step to offer faster on-road assistance to customers’ cars. This team, on bikes, has been rolled out in 249 cities. “We have a fleet of over 780 emergency service vehicles with expert technicians who have served over 1.14 lakh customers during the pandemic,” he added.
